An initiative to be launched across Spain, involving 50 training courses over three years to help over 600 NGOs in their digitalisation journey.

In total, 200 organisations will benefit from economic aid of up to €5,000 to improve their digitalisation.

Banco Santander, through its Foundation, will allocate €1,500,000 over three years as a result of its commitment to digital inclusion. 

Madrid, 20 January 2019. Banco Santander Foundation is launching this new initiative to drive the digital transformation of the third sector to contribute to social transformation. Santander Social Tech was set up to support non-profit entities with very few resources for digitalisation, to help them become more efficient, effective and innovative organisations in fulfilling their mission. 

An initiative that will be launched in 50 towns and cities across Spain over three years with workshops aimed at providing NGOs with the knowledge and digital tools needed to improve their efficiency and optimise resources. 

 “This programme will accompany social organisations in their digitalisation to increase their impact on society,” says Borja Baselga, director of the Banco Santander Foundation. 

In the first workshops already held in Madrid, Gijón and Seville as a pilot test, 98% of participating organisations have been very satisfied with the training received and 84% state that they are implementing the digital tools acquired through the workshops.

To help NGOs overcome these obstacles, Santander Social Tech is launching a support programme in two phases:

1. Santander Social Tech workshops: offering NGOs with few resources and a low level of digitalisation, free, face-to-face training in various towns and cities in Spain, so that they may acquire the skills needed to improve their digital communication and raise funds online. Subsequent to these workshops, the NGOs will be provided with an advisory and support service for digital issues.
2. Santander Social Tech grants: to implement the lessons learnt, the organisations taking part in the workshops will have access to a €5,000 grant that they can put towards their organisation’s digital development (hardware acquisition, software, hiring of professional services, etc.). In the three years that the programme will run for, 200 entities will benefit from this aid. 

Santander Social Tech complements another social action programme launched by the Banco Santander Foundation in 2015: Santander Ayuda. Since then, this initiative has supported various non-profit organisations through 320 social projects and €1.6 million aimed at improving the quality of life of over 170,000 people in a vulnerable situation.

The need for this initiative: data and figures

“Santander Social Tech stems from the needs we identified through direct contact with NGOs from all over Spain in the Santander Ayuda programme. The lack of training and resources favours this digital divide that we are trying to fight,” says Susana Gómez, head of strategy for the Banco Santander Foundation.  

Digitalisation is the third sector’s biggest challenge, as confirmed by the most significant studies in recent years:

• 80% of the foundations have a digital maturity between traditional and medium (according to the study “How to transform your foundation and not die trying” by AEF – Spanish Association of Foundations – and the Altran Foundation)
• The lack of resources is flagged as the main obstacle to digitalisation by 69% of the organisations, followed by a lack of talent and knowledge in 33% of those surveyed (according to the digital barometer for the social sector prepared by the ISDIdygital Foundation)

Banco Santander Foundation

The Banco Santander Foundation has a strong cultural, humanistic and scientific vocation, carrying out cultural sponsorship through a number of basic lines, including making art more accessible to the public, recollecting art, literature and history, as well as carrying out very special work in the field of social action and the environment.